Equity Initiatives in Predominantly White Schools

• In Event: Antiracist Student Activism in Suburban Schools

Abstract

In recent years, the number of initiatives related to “equity” with a special focus on racialized disparities has seemingly exploded within public and private schools across the United States. The rise of tools like equity audits (e.g., Scheurich, Skrla, Garcia, & Nolly, 2004; Skrla, McKenzie, & Scheurich, 2009) coupled with a context of intense data collection and analysis fueled by federal legislation like NCLB and ESSA has made acknowledging and addressing these disparities almost impossible for districts to ignore (Dodman et al, 2014). That said, the level of genuine commitment to change may not be as widespread as the rhetoric and surface-level actions. For schools that fancy themselves “progressive” and for districts serving predominantly white and wealthy students, the work of engaging in a revision of policies and practices that will actually move the needle towards deeper equity and justice is rife with tensions between what Sunderman (2014) calls “a commitment to the idea of equity and the pressures of obtaining the very best for one’s own children” (p.125). Even when “gaps” in achievement are reframed opportunity gaps or debts (Ladson-Billings, 2006; Milner, 2012), supposedly equity-oriented, “anti-racist” efforts for change rarely directly confront racism (Kohli, Pizarro, & Nevárez, 2017).

This paper explores the case of a predominantly white school district’s efforts to redress racial disparity gaps using analysis of public documents and notes from a facilitator of a multi-year equity professional development contract with the district explicitly grounded in a framework of equity literacy (Gorski & Swalwell, 2015) and critical consciousness (Watts & Hipolito-Delgado, 2015) with a special focus on anti-racism. Included in the analysis is attention to what catalyzed these efforts (e.g., public organizing by families of color, critical incidents bringing negative publicity to the school), what constrained this work, and what seems to be gaining traction. Three themes within this work are explored: 1) the role of “reputation” as an obstacle when seen as in need of protection or as a point of leverage when reframed, 2) the location of agents of change as internal and external to the district and in positions of lesser and greater formal authority, and 3) the evolution of phases as people at various stages grow excited and frustrated with the progress (or lack thereof).

Authors

• Katy Swalwell, Iowa State University

• Daniel D. Spikes, University of South Carolina